BASKETBALL Middle Tennessee (8-16, 5-6) vs Old Dominion (19-6, 9-3), 6PM, Saturday, February 9, 2019

[SpaceRaider]

FEB 9 (SAT) 6:00 PM
C-USA
VS OLD DOMINION
MURFREESBORO, TN

TV: STADIUM
RADIO: 94.9/95.1 FM, 100.5/101.9 FM, 1450 AM

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GAME NOTES

 

[Blueraider_Mike]

Can we continue the streak against ODU? I am looking forward to the game and see if our boys can hang against a good team.

 

[SubwayAlumni]

I just wanna take one out of the last 3. I think that's somewhat reasonable.

 

[blueraiderJT]

After watching ODU last night vs. UAB, I think they are a legit NCAA tourney team this year. They are flat out good. UAB led deep in the 2nd half and ODU just stayed calm and turned on the jets. It's like they have 8 gears. They don't stop or level off. It's gonna be a tough game. However, I feel like we are finally figuring out who we are and what we are good or not so good at. We are putting the right people together and are playing smarter now as well. The range of Green and Sims is incredible. They are hitting NBA range 3's.

We'll see what happens but we will spoil someone's season I feel it now.

 

[SpaceRaider]

MT a 6.5 point dog

http://www.vegasinsider.com/college...on-@-middle-tennessee-state.cfm/date/02-09-19

 

[SpaceRaider]

espn gives odu a 81.7% chance of the win

http://www.espn.com/mens-college-basketball/game?gameId=401088377

 

[JohnDavidBlue]

Middle takes this.

 

[SpaceRaider]

excerpt:


...The Old Dominion Monarchs and the Middle Tennessee Blue Raiders will match up on the college basketball circuit Saturday.

The Monarchs come in here with a 19-6 record overall. Following a loss to UTSA, Old Dominion has won their last three outings versus North Texas, Rice and UAB in succession.

In the win over the Blazers, Old Dominion’s BJ Stith and Ahmad Caver each logged 21 points, and had four assists with seven rebounds between them. Dajour Dickens added 12 points and nine boards for the Monarchs in that one.

Over on the Middle Tennessee side, they’re 8-16 this season. The Raiders have won their last three games, taking out UAB twice in a home-and-home and Charlotte in their last outing.

In the win over the Niners, MTSU’s lead scorer was Antonio Green on 21 points, four assists and two boards. Donovan Sims added 16 points and five assists there, while Karl Gamble put up 12 points and five rebounds.

The Monarchs are 7-3 ATS in their last 10 Saturday games and 3-7 ATS in their last 10 overall. Old Dominion is 4-10 ATS in their last 14 versus CUSA and 1-5 ATS in their last six road games.

Meanwhile, the Raiders are 4-0 ATS in their last four home games and 5-2 ATS in the last seven overall. MTSU is 5-2 ATS in the last seven versus CUSA and 2-7 ATS in their last nine Saturday games.

ODU should be sitting on a lengthy win streak right now, had that UTSA game gone a little differently in the second half. Still, the Monarchs are on a nice run right now and have put up at least 70 in each of their last four.

As for MTSU, they put up a dud against North Texas but have been playing well since then, with at least 71 in each of their last three....

 

[MTsumner92]

I remember Southern Miss didn't have a good start last year but closed strong and got into the semis. Right now this team is playing above my expectations. Hopefully that will continue.

 

[SpaceRaider]

 

[sWiley]

sure would like to keep our domination of ODU going.

It's going to be tough though. ODU loves to muck a game up into a big half court battle defensive slug fest. Our defense is gonna have to be stellar today and our boys are gonna have to hit contested shots. Can't afford foul trouble with our short bench which I believe will come into play today. If we can stay out of foul trouble and hit some 3's to soften up their defense we have a chance.

 

[SpaceRaider]

 

[sWiley]

1-11 from 3....of all games why this one? we are at home there is no excuse to shoot that bad. ODU is doing nothing impressive

 

[sWiley]

There we go. Shots are falling now, like they should. We are at home. Protect this house. ODU ain't nothin special. Whip these boys

 

[RandallThomason]

Big props to TJ Massenburg for the solid minutes he played while Scurry and Gamble were on the bench with two fouls. He held his ground and made a couple of good plays. Amazing that we have the lead at halftime.

 

[SpaceRaider]

TJ came in and made some plays

MT leads 23-21 at the half

 

[sWiley]

Can't afford foul trouble with our short bench which I believe will come into play today.

 

[sWiley]

Our lack of offensive fire power is extremely annoying whenever we play ODU. Seems like every game we playing against them has to revolve around shooting less than 30% from the field. That's just a pathetic performance on offense I don't care how good people think ODU's defense is. If FAU can hang 80 on these clowns then we should be able to hit some shots when we are playing @ home. Put the ball in the damn basket jesus christ.

 

[sWiley]

absolutely god awful refs. nothing new there. how is that not a foul on the guy who shoved sims to the ground? dude literally shoved him 5 feet in the air and to the ground going for loose ball and the ref is standing RIGHT THERE. LOL @ these refs. WTF? That needs to be clipped and sent to CUSA Commish

 

[sWiley]

MT leads 41-39 with 8 minutes remaining

 

[blueraiderJT]

Sims is special.Crazy moves. Green's 3 was electric.

 

[bluefutcpa]

What last year would’ve been if Kd gave Sims the green light

 

[sWiley]

Awesome timing to let ODU go on 8-0 run...you know, at the end of the game, when it's most important to not $hit the bed.....

 

[sWiley]

this team....i have no words

 

[sWiley]

gonna blow the game....and the cover....thanks guys. Look like the 8-16 team that we are in the final minutes. Pathetic

 

[MTCasey]

Rough time for two ugly unforced turnovers...wish we could have closed it out. Still, a gritty performance against a team that is absolutely better than us.

 

[bluefutcpa]

I’m not mad about this one. We can beat this team if we get them in the conference tourney.

 

[blueraiderJT]

We came up short but we battled the entire game and played the best team in this conference to the wire. Good things ahead for this team.

 

[Blueraider_Mike]

Just got home from the game. They left it on the court. Hard to believe we out rebounded them with their size. Even TJ gave us some good mins.

 

[MTCasey]

That is one thing I have noticed- we seem to be a good rebounding team, particularly given our size limitations.

 

[SpaceRaider]

Disappointed we couldn't finish but that was a well played game. Only 9 turnovers, we managed to out rebound odu. The biggest thing is our Simms and Green didn't have many open shots from behind the arc. We really need both to be sharp, and together they were 5 of 20 from behind the 3 point line.

Stith is a senior and he made some great shots at the end. Hate MT could not get some stops.

If MT makes it to the tourney, I wouldn't mind seeing us go against odu again.

 

[SpaceRaider]

odu poster's reaction to getting a win over MT, finally

 

[kingaling42]

The challenge for shooters is to play in rhythm.. teams like ODU who overplay and really pressure guards can make guys uncomfortable- so much so that even when the shooters get good looks they don’t feel like they’re open even if they are.. if these teams do play again it’ll be important for Sims & Green to make a few shots early each half to establish a good rhythm..

Key to the game was very few assisted baskets.. only 5 assists on 19 made FGs.. during the recent stretch that’s the area that really improved as the guys decreased in hero ball/isolation and executed good ball movement.. credit ODU for taking that away and although it was a close game the final 5 minutes came down to individuals making plays and Stith stepped up..

 

[crposton]

Disappointed we couldn't finish but that was a well played game. Only 9 turnovers, we managed to out rebound odu. The biggest thing is our Simms and Green didn't have many open shots from behind the arc. We really need both to be sharp, and together they were 5 of 20 from behind the 3 point line.

Stith is a senior and he made some great shots at the end. Hate MT could not get some stops.

If MT makes it to the tourney, I wouldn't mind seeing us go against odu again.

I was there at the game and we can play with ODU or any team in the conference. Jayce did fairly well against Stith and Massenburg made a hell of a block when I thought he was beat. I know we get on Massenburg on here, but the kid plays solid defense. I really believe he is the only player on our team that could have made the block he did. Tough loss tonight. Stith just made the plays where we did not. Sims is something special. McDevitt really unleashed something there.

 

[crposton]

gonna blow the game....and the cover....thanks guys. Look like the 8-16 team that we are in the final minutes. Pathetic

They covered Wiley don't worry.

 

[sWiley]

odu poster's reaction to getting a win over MT, finally

they must be proud....they got us in a complete and total rebuilding year with an 8-16 record, and won by 5. LOL

 

[JohnDavidBlue]

Those who noticed knew sims was better than Dixon any day. Old news.

 

[MTsumner92]

Very encouraged to see that Massenberg put in some quality minutes today. If that continues than a tournament run to the finals could very well happen.

 

[sWiley]

Very encouraged to see that Massenberg put in some quality minutes today. If that continues than a tournament run to the finals could very well happen.

Scoring isn't everything. Dixon was a better defender and facilitated the ball well, rarely turning it over. We typically had enough players on the floor to put the ball in the basket last year. Again, scoring is not everything.

 

[MTBig Blue]

At the end of the year last year, Sims was better than Dixon, thus why Kermit was starting Sims over him.